Peter Parka

MISSING Bishop's Stortford man David Cush was named this week as the seventh rail death victim in three months in Harlow.

His identification as the latest fatality ended a search by Herts police to find the 55-year-old father, who had been missing for five days when they launched an appeal last Thursday.

He had last been seen on May 17 - the day, in fact, that he was struck by an 80mph Stansted Express train as it sped through Harlow Town station at 7.23pm.

His frantic family raised the alarm and yesterday (Wednesday) son Jonathan, 26, told of their shock and sorrow after officers confirmed last Thursday that Mr Cush's body had been found on the track.

He explained that his father had been suffering from depression after a prolonged bout of ill health which had prevented him working for around 12 years. Previously he had held a City post in finance.

Mr Cush, who had Irish roots and was brought up in Hitchin, was divorced from wife Susan last year and left the family home in Kimberley Close to live in The Lindens.

However Jonathan stressed: "He was single but still very close to my mum - they still saw each other most days."

He said his parents had been together for 27 years and shared many happy times, and he and his younger brother Bradley, a 22-year-old student in Leeds, would remember their father as a family man and Status Quo music fan, who supported Liverpool and Stevenage Borough football clubs and enjoyed travel and food, with curry and trifle his favourite dishes.

Jonathan, who lives in Braintree with fiancée Michelle, said: "His depression seemed to worsen lately, but there was nothing obvious to suspect it was the time he needed to do what he did."
His dad had never gone missing before. "I suppose at the back of our minds there was the fear, but it was our hope that he would be found somewhere," said Jonathan.

Mr Cush's funeral will be held on Monday (June 2) at 2pm at Holy Trinity Church in South Street, followed by burial in the cemetery. His ex-wife and sons have asked for family flowers only and donations to Cancer Research UK or Diabetes UK in his memory.

An inquest into Mr Cush's death was opened and adjourned last Thursday, just before his body was formally identified. The cause of death was given as multiple injuries caused by a rail track incident.

British Transport Police are not treating his death as suspicious and have passed their findings to Essex coroner Caroline Beasley Murray. A jury inquest is now anticipated.

Before Mr Cush's death there were a further three fatalities on the same stretch of the Liverpool Street to Cambridge line. In April, Katie Gumble, 35, and boyfriend Dean Pickard, 33, were hit by a packed commuter train at Harlow Mill. A fortnight later musician Alan Baker was killed at Harlow Town. Three other people have died on the tracks since February 26 and Harlow MP Bill Rammell has urged rail chiefs to take action.


Herts and Essex Observer

The guy, Alan Baker who died mentioned at the end of this article wa a good friend of mine for ove 20 years. Dont know why this is happening here but so far this year over 1 in 5 of deaths on British railways have happened in Harlow.

__________________

wednesday

thats really sad...and such a waste. Sorry peter *hugs*

__________________

Zorak

I remember your thread about this.
It's a really sad thing.

How are his wife and kids?

__________________
"...I will die alone, upside down, in a pub toilet."


Hey hey, My my, Rock and Roll can never die.